Being the brains behind Microsoft has made Bill Gates the wealthiest guy in the world. So he can pretty much afford to buy his kids any gadgets they want. However, Apple devices are banned in the Gates’ house. This is surprisingly not a rule set by Bill Gates. Melinda Gates has made it very clear in an interview with The New York Times that she does not allow Apple hardware in the house. If the kids want an iPod they’ll have to settle for a Zune instead.

How about any kid who wants to play games? There's no way I would have wanted a Mac when I got my first computer, aged 12. They're undoubtedly more cool now then they were back then, but the game situation hasn't yet shifted a single yard.

They're undoubtedly more cool now then they were back then, but the game situation hasn't yet shifted a single yard.

Hello Steam? There are a LOT of games for Mac, more than what you think and Steam is only making it better. It will take time, but it will slowly start to catch up. When you’re 12, you play with what you get. Back then, a PONG was good for me…

Hello Steam? There are a LOT of games for Mac, more than what you think and Steam is only making it better.

As out-of-topic as it is, Steam is indeed just plain awesome The little I have tried it on a Mac when I had one it worked just as peachy as on Windows, and it really makes it a breeze to find games. I only wish there was Steam for Linux, too.

I don't know how old you are, so I can only speak from my own experience. When I was 12, the majority of gaming was done on the NES or at the arcades. As for the personal computer gaming situation, there were more games for Mac than for PC by far back then. The PC gaming revolution didn't start until a few years later with the release of DOOM, which was PC-only for a while. Even then, some of the best games out there were more popular on the Mac than the PC (Myst comes to mind).

Of course, with the releases of DOOM and Quake for PC, followed by Unreal, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Diablo, System Shock and so on, the DOS/Windows PC became the king of gaming outside the console world. Even though some of those games eventually made it to the Mac, it was unfortunately during that awkward phase between their prior success and Jobs' return. As he was no fan of computer gaming, the Mac game situation never really recovered.

Today, we have major houses like Valve and Blizzard pushing a lot of their most popular games on the Mac alongside the PC versions. In Blizzard's case, they continue to offer Mac-only enhancements like integrated voice chat and video recording in World of Warcraft. To me it makes sense: Macs are the ultimate consumer home computer, built from the start with entertainment in mind. Why not make them an easily accessible gaming platform too? Especially with the Mac mini, which now very closely resembles a Wii or tiny Xbox with its powerful graphics processor and loads of connectivity options.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a big gaming push in Lion leak out over the coming months, specifically targeting the mini for its dead-simple integration capability in the home theater.